| Issue #77 Aug.
'05
The
Peloponnesian Wars, which were fought from 431 to 404 B.C. between Athens
(and the Athenian empire) and Sparta
(and the Peloponnesian Confederacy) had the honor of
being the first war in history recorded in writing. Thucydides, an
Athenian, elected
military magistrate and fleet commander, was exiled for losing a city
and spent the rest
of his life chronicling the trade war. Fueled by power, greed, and
corruption the
Peloponnesian Wars were a manipulation of the common man for the
purpose of advancing the
wealth of government and its rulers. Needless to say, 2500 years later
not much has
changed.
Brahams’ 3rd Racket,
a
musical collective commanded by David Kemper
(basses, gtrs, keys, vox,
exotica) and his rockin’ fleet of Adam Conway
(lead singing), Neil
Laferty (6-strings), and Tim Mulvenna
(kit drums, hand drums,
mallets, many other loud, abrasive noises), along with a crew about a
dozen strong, steers
clear of the political agenda while bringing us Highlights from what
they view as the
current Peloponnesian conflict. Just as the original ancient wars
gathered steam and built
off incidents separate to the initial cause, this short dossier picks
incidents that many
would find very far from the cause, but then again, it’s Brahms’ 3rd
Rackets’
highlights, not the talking heads of the network news teams.
Write It
Down! bursts forth with a slight Mathrock
syncopation and rocks our world with
power chords, distinct rhythm methods, and time change progressions.
Tipping its hat to
Thucydides, it parlays into a personal success story the parallel of a
modern musical
artist who writes down everything he sees. Boldly winning the battle,
while not the war,
which we can hear in the scorched and jubilant vocals that relate the
pain of hitting your
head against a brick wall as the pleasure of cashing royalty checks
numbs the reality of
who is actually paying attention.
Then
comes Lunch
with Cupid (My New Career), a dreamy, 70s soulful
lullaby that morphs itself into
a Hall & Oates style minor disco ditty, complete with Langer
& Winstanley style
production. Enhanced keyboards bounce with a hip shakin’
funky groove, and sultry
female backing vocals that underline the “shake it down,
shake it down, shake it down
down down” get down sound of the beat pounding rhythms, all
wrapped around a cleverly
written dis/homage to Liz Phair. Using many lyrical references to the
rock critics’
favorite darling, Brahams’ 3rd
Racket idolizes the fact that she honestly writes down not
only how she feels, but
what she sees, and what she actually does/did (instead of sugarcoating
it - we all know
Liz tells it like it is) regardless of what the culture, or perceived
culture, thinks
about it. For this, Brahms’ has its jealousies of how
successful she was in writing
down her sexual pervasiveness, which opened as many doors as it did
flys. Yet, with this
Highlights CD, Brahams’ knows that they’ll never
get the attention she does. So
while they are emulating in verse and instrumentation exactly what Liz
did, they’ll
never see the same success because they can’t fuck and suck
the right people. “Cupid / Shoot an
arrow through my new career / I’m
counting on you / Cupid.” Call it vagina envy?
Square Root of a Shoofly Pi
coupled
with Huckleberry
Hill / Square Root reprise gives us a hand clapping
theatrical rock revival of the
Village Green Preservation Society / Muswell Hillbillies era Ray Davies
Kinks style of
storytelling. Hooked with a Frank Zappa-esque production, this 3-part
soap opera starts
with Square
Root of a Shoofly Pi and
has the choir singing in the balcony while we
try to decipher a sing-a-long tale of the tragic sexual escapes of a
reclusive individual.
Then, using an A Day In The Life ending chord, the song quickly segues
into the heart of
these Highlights: a banjo strumming, down home tinged Huckleberry
Hill. It tells of a cemetery (Huckleberry Hill)
that doesn’t discriminate,
and in which is buried an undiscovered genius artist. “Until maybe one day / Years since you’ve
died from
neglect / The cash register rings / And you’ve got instant
respect / Some cousin,
twice-removed / Who you never liked much / Will strike a deal with a
paper magnate / Baron
Such-and-Such” Another tragic tale of exploitation,
of how the undeserved get
rich off the bones of the righteous ones. Or as Brahms puts it
“This tragic vignette / It makes me
scream, in a word
/ Why do I have to be / nailed to a cross to be heard?”
Too powerful, too close
to the truth, do you think anybody is going to hear this? Sure, people
like us will listen
to the song but will we actually hear the message? 2000 years, 2500
years - it’s all
the same, and to show just how quick our society is (has always been)
to overlook the
obvious when it’s right in front of our eyes, Brahms tacks on
another quick verse and
a New Orleans Mardi Gras (funeral) flavor before ratcheting up the
instrumentation as we
return to the rock revival reprise of Square
Root of a Shoofly Pi, and our attention
is once again drawn into the musical
equivalent of a goodtime party where no one understands or cares what
is actually going
on.
Maybe
that’s why the lo-fi ringing instrumental Sand Song
is placed here, sort of a cool down which either gives us the chance to
ponder what
we’ve been listening to, or prepare us for what’s
to come…
Roman Polanski’s House
hits with a
Ramones’ 3-chord party slam dance sing-along
that’ll have everyone bouncing and
shouting “Let’s go! /
Let’s go over
to / Roman Polanski’s house / Let’s go!”
in classic Frat house style.
It isn’t until you pay attention to the lyrics that you
really understand what this
song is all about, and perhaps, being that it is a recreation of an
incident that took
place over 3 decades ago, the impact is lessened a bit…
“Get out the lead /
We’re wasting time, now /
Cut to the heart /
Of real movie star chic /
Killing time with the /
Rich and beautiful kind”
We’re
partying to a writer’s take on the perspective of the Manson
Family
just prior to the Tate/LaBianca murders, which began in Roman
Polanski’s Beverly
Hills mansion and gave rise to a new
meaning for Helter Skelter and The Beatles. While
this may make most uneasy, it is truly a masterstroke to the wit and
wisdom of David Kemper and his
written historical document
of the highlights of what can be considered the current Peloponnesian
War - reporting as
Thucydides was able to, from inside the viewpoint of the opponent.
Still
don’t like having an alternate reality of horror thrown into
your face like
a pie (a Shoofly Pi?)
at a
carnival? Well, “fifteen francs can
always get
you anywhere.” That’s the final message
of Brahms’ 3rd
Racket as they
conclude these Highlights with another theatrical sojourn. This time
it’s a Parisian
feel as we are told that for a slight fee, we can accomplish anything
we want, even if
it’s within our own personal world. This stage production,
complete with lilting
backing vocals answering questions with dreamy response, ushers us
through the wasted mind
of a talented individual who finally proclaims: “Nourished by ideas / ‘Cause the
cupboard’s
bare / (No more chasing blue sky) / My message to the world / No
revolution here / (No
chasing blue sky) / But fifteen francs can always get you / anywhere…”
and the music swells with a piano and accordion
sidestepping down a cobblestone path to wherever it may lead.
From
Thucydides to Liz Phair, to a funny uncle and a dead artistic genius,
to the Mansion
Family, and the personal enclave of another artistic genius, Brahms’ 3rd
Rackets’ message
to the world may be “no revolution
here,”
but it sheds light on the fact that even with scholarly reporting of
the Peloponnesian
Wars over 2500 years ago, and man’s acknowledgement of the
importance of them, if
there is no one interested enough in reading/listening to them, then
how, as a culture (to
a man), will we ever learn from our mistakes?
Highlights
from the Peloponnesian Wars is but a
drop in the ocean, but it is a very important one. Listen to it and
understand that like
Thucydides (and even Liz Phair), there are still knowledgeable people
writing it down.
Highlights from the
Peloponnesian Wars
by Brahms' 3rd Racket
is available now for $8.98 + s/h*
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